Conga Swing (1941)
"Blondie Goes Latin" (original title)

Dagwood disguises himself as a drummer in the ship's conga band to sneak aboard a South American cruise ship. Blondie performs several song-and-dance routines.

Director:

Frank R. Strayer

Writers:

Chic Young (based upon the comic strip created by), Richard Flournoy (screenplay),

Stars:

Penny Singleton, Arthur Lake, Larry Simms

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Penny Singleton	...	Blondie Bumstead
Arthur Lake	...	Dagwood Bumstead
Larry Simms	...	Baby Dumpling Bumstead
Daisy	...	Daisy
Ruth Terry	...	Lovey Nelson, the Singer
Danny Mummert	...	Alvin Fuddle
Jonathan Hale	...	Mr. J.C. Dithers
Janet Burston	...	Little Girl Singer and Piano Player
Kirby Grant	...	Hal Trent, Orchestra Leader
Tito Guízar	...	Manuel Rodríguez

Storyline

Dagwood disguises himself as a drummer in the ship's conga band to sneak aboard a South American cruise ship. Blondie performs several song-and-dance routines.

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Plot Keywords:

cruise | disguise | drummer | female impersonation | business competition | 

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Taglines:

Where there's a Bumstead...there's always trouble and fun!

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Genres:

Comedy | Musical

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 February 1941 (USA)

Also Known As:

Blondie e o Samba

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

68 min 72 min (original US 16 mm television syndication prints)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The eighth of twenty-eight Blondie movies starring Penny Singleton as Blondie Bumstead and Arthur Lake as Dagwood Bumstead.

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Goofs

When Blondie faints, Dagwood picks her up to carry her into her stateroom. The supposedly unconscious character can be seen holding/adjusting the hem of her dress as Dagwood tries to open the door.

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Connections

Followed by Henpecked (1941)

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Soundtracks

"You Don't Play a Drum, You Beat It"
Music and Lyrics by Chet Forrest and Bob Wright
Played by Kirby Grant and Orchestra with Arthur Lake on drums
Sung by Ruth Terry an orchestra quartet
Reprised at the end by the orchestra and Penny Singleton

User Reviews

Singing and Dancing Blondie

Blondie Goes Latin is the episode in the series where we are reminded that pert Penny Singlton got her start in musical comedy. She gets to sing and dance, and very well at that. Plot wise, this entry is standard for the amusing series which ran for 12 years and 28 episodes and made a fortune for Columbia in the process. The series was filmed mostly on Columbia's backlot, which means that if you watch the films, you will see the street and house sets from almost all the 1950s-60s Screen Gems TV shows such as Hazel, The Donna Reed Show, I Dream of Jeannie and Father Knows Best, who used the same house set for it's residence as the Blondie films. The songs employed here are quite melodic and hummable, and actress Ruth Terry (who is still living at this writing) gets a featured part and gets to sing "Don't Cry On My Shoulder" to boot. This tuneful nonsense has a big, patriotic finale which was standard procedure during the time just prior to WW2. I got this film on DVD as part of a 10 film set of Blondie films for $5.00 some years ago at Walmart. I'm not sure if it is still in print, but the quality is pretty good and it is enjoyable to have the first ten films in the series for such a low cost. These are the TV prints which cut off the original opening and closing credits, but add their own King Features credits with a theme song familiar to viewers who watched these films on TV during the 1960s. As such, these films almost play like the first Screen Gems sitcom, with continuity between films that is rare for any film series. To pad out the running time to something uniform on the shorter entries of the series, a scene from the middle of some of the films plays before the opening credits. You can fast forward over them if you don't care to see them. This seems like a review for the Blondie DVD set, yet the musical elements in Blondie Goes Latin makes that entry unique and a treat for musical fans.